TITLE OF BILL: “An act to amend the education law, in relation to vocational rehabilitation services for enhancing communication support”

Introduced to the New York State Assembly by Angelo Santabarbara.

Short Description:

This bill directs the commissioner of education (John B. King Jr) to amend the education law in relation to vocational rehabilitation services to add a new section (1004-c) for communication support as a vocational rehabilitation service. Deputy Commissioner of Adult Career and Continuing Education Services (Kevin Smith) to implement the service statewide effective January 1, 2016.

In June 2013, Rebecca Botta-Zalucki and Henny Kupferstein met with Assemblyman Santabarbara and submitted a proposal (click here to read) for reforming Acces-VR’s failure to adequately support autistic consumers. The proposal outlines an intervention for system change where a radical reduction in the budget would also increase the employment rates significantly. This change would thereby radically alter the efficacy of the program moving forward, shining a light on the abysmal statistics published by the agency to date. By adding communication support as a service, the agency will support consumers appropriately and dissolve the demoralizing, costly, and ineffective job coaching services that still leave autistic adults without sustainable employment.

The federal government has given the jurisdiction to the state to interpret their own policies and consolidate funding. In July, 2014, we met with Debora Brown-Johnson, Assistant Deputy Commissioner of ACCES-VR and Michelle Barlow from ACCES-VR Quality Assurance and Monitoring Unit (QAMU) at the New York State Education Department. The proposal was then presented at the council’s open session, putting the matter on the record with State Ed. New York’s State Ed Deputy Commissioner reviewed the proposal in July 2014 but determined that no changes would be made to the policies at that time.

Rebecca and Henny wish to thank the following agencies and professionals for signing the proposal and supporting this historic piece of legislation: